5 September 2001

Australian And NZ Greens Ask Australia To Take Some Of Afghan Refugees

The following is a joint statement by Australian Green Senator Bob Brown and New Zealand Green MP and Immigration spokesperson Keith Locke :

We are a part of the community of nations and we have an obligation to take people who are seeking asylum.

The Prime Minister John Howard has shown lack of humanity in dealing with the situation from the start. He treats the boatpeople as if they are criminals, not the ordinary people fleeing from terrific and horrific circumstances in Afghanistan.

We are shocked that the Australian Prime Minister has effectively blockaded Australia and left Papua New Guinea, Nauru and New Zealand to do what his government refused to do.

We are pleased that New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark has offered to take some of the asylum seekers

However, we urge John Howard to reconsider and take in the rest of the refugees currently on board the troop ship Manoora. We support those civil libertarians who have argued in court that Australia has a legal duty to let the asylum seekers on to Australia territory to be processed.

We think the Australian government's policy of imprisoning refugees is abhorrent. We also ask the New Zealand government not to use the emergency legislation passed in 1999, which allows the detention of boat people.

Australian and New Zealand are relatively rich countries, which have a moral duty to help those whose live have been shattered by shattered by conflict and repression

We are alarmed at the way the world will see Australia's introduction of warships and troops into handling asylum-seekers.

Ends

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Gordon Campbell: On the Sony cyber attack

Given the layers of meta-irony involved, the saga of the Sony cyber attack seemed at the outset more like a snarky European art film than a popcorn entry at the multiplex.

Yet now with (a) President Barack Obama weighing in on the side of artistic freedom and calling for the US to make a ‘proportionate response’quickly followed by (b) North Korea’s entire Internet service going down, and with both these events being followed by (c) Sony deciding to backtrack and release The Interview film that had made it a target for the dastardly North Koreans in the first place, then ay caramba…the whole world will now be watching how this affair pans out. More>>